Priti Patel threatens the French with the Navy

They also want to leave the camps of Calais. They live there in dreadful conditions and have their belongings regularly ruined by the French police - when they are taken to other areas of France where they can be helped etc they almost immediately start again to return to Calais.
Besides many speaking English lots of them are well qualified with professional qualifications. U.K. may well be in need of these people with so many young qualified Brits reported as leaving the U.K. for what they see as a better life elsewhere.
Many of the migrants do go to other EU countries - Germany and Sweden being two of them.

Many come from Eritrea, where English is taught. Many already have family in the UK.

Callistemon

^Why should the French stop them?^
Why would they not want to stay there?
Apparently it is much more wonderful than the UK.

re increased number of immigrants crossing the Channel.
Are they illegal immigrants, asylum seekers or people who have been granted refugee status?

They are legal if they apply for asylum.

lemongrove

They are entering illegally growstuff and yes, they will then apply for asylum which takes time, but quite a lot will be flown back to France if it’s denied.They have to prove they are not simply economic migrants.
We pay France to stop this vegansrock ( you ask why the French should stop migrants) and no doubt will come to an agreement with the French by paying more.It’s better if we do it that way as then nobody will drown trying to cross.

They become legal the moment they enter British waters and apply for asylum, which is a legal status. They don't need to be granted it to become legal. I hate the term "illegals" - it's become part of the gutter press narrative.

Admittedly, some are irregular because they never apply for asylum. Even so, there still some idiots who claim "illegals only come here for our benefits". No, they don't. They can't claim them if they're not here legally and, anyway, benefits are more generous in other countries such as France and Germany.

This is all grandstanding. Patel can't do anything. France isn't going to go out of its way to stop them - there's no reason why it should.

This was posted on another thread. About an asylum seeker's experience. It's an interesting read.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/02/hassan-akkad-for-someone-from-syria-the-creeping-authoritarianism-is-vivid-in-britain?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It’s an industry. So many are conned, back in their home country, to believe Britain is the land of milk and honey where they’ll make their fortunes. Their families end up deep in debt to people traffickers, the migrants end up living in misery and the traffickers go on making money.

Are they illegal immigrants, asylum seekers or people who have been granted refugee status?

I think that very much depends on your political and moral outlook, Callistomen

I wonder too why they risk their own and their children's lives to get here to the UK. Many are unaccompanied children, which is worrying. Even if they have family here it is a huge risk to cross the dangerous .waters of the channel

They want to come to the U.K. as many speak some English, they have heard of Manchester United and a Liverpool fc, they have relatives here, they may come from a former British colony, they know it is easy to work under the radar and they don’t have to carry ID so can disappear. France has stricter laws on employment and don’t translate every document into 27 other languages or supply translators for everything. France is a lovely country as anyone who has been there on holiday or lived there will testify, but it’s not Shangri La for many migrants. Migrants believe, rightly or not , that the U.K. is friendly and welcoming, many are shocked when they discover the reality.

Feel so sorry for these people. They must be so desperate to risk their lives in this way.

Le Touquet and Sandhurst agreements signed with Frace were based on us being part of EU and later on having a Deal agreed with EU. Without a Deal, both will become void.

Why should the French stop them?
Why would they not want to stay there?
Apparently it is much more wonderful than the UK.

re increased number of immigrants crossing the Channel.
Are they illegal immigrants, asylum seekers or people who have been granted refugee status?

lemonsgrove many of them are English speaking and have family in England. I met a group of young migrants last year, who were in a local small rural town, learning French and preparing to settle in France, even though they had been trying to get to England. They were all English speaking and I had a long conversation with one of them about cricket, amongst other things. Contrary to what might be reported by the British press they were getting lots of support to help them to settle here.
It is obviously easier to disappear in the UK because you do not have to carry ID, but from this small sample the main reasons were family and cultural.

but the question is irrelevant in many ways - and won't stop them from coming, and neither will the French from Jan 2021.

because they speak English and not French- and because they already have friends or relatives here.

Isn’t the idea “push back” as the Australians do?
Aren’t we at saturation point with the amount we can take?

vegansrock

We'll have to pay the French a lot more to make it worth their while. Savings from brexit (haha - we know brexit will cost us a hell of a lot more than remaining members would have).
I think over 95% asylum seekers not sent back to France. So thats not much of a threat, and nothing to stop them trying again if they are. The migrants don't want to stay in France and the French don't want them to stay in France. British exceptionalism puts up the backs of the French unsurprisingly. The French hold the cards on this one.

The question that needs answering though, is....why don’t the migrants wish to stay in France?

growstuff

The UK wanted control of its borders. It's got it.

Yep.

This latest Priti Patel nonsense has been described by our military as "bonkers"

We'll have to pay the French a lot more to make it worth their while. Savings from brexit (haha - we know brexit will cost us a hell of a lot more than remaining members would have).
I think over 95% asylum seekers not sent back to France. So thats not much of a threat, and nothing to stop them trying again if they are. The migrants don't want to stay in France and the French don't want them to stay in France. British exceptionalism puts up the backs of the French unsurprisingly. The French hold the cards on this one.

They are entering illegally growstuff and yes, they will then apply for asylum which takes time, but quite a lot will be flown back to France if it’s denied.They have to prove they are not simply economic migrants.
We pay France to stop this vegansrock ( you ask why the French should stop migrants) and no doubt will come to an agreement with the French by paying more.It’s better if we do it that way as then nobody will drown trying to cross.

Surely the Le Touquet nd Sandhurst agreements are linked to EU membership or at least a Deal approved by both sides.

Growstuff - exactly. Project fear, they said. Border will move back to Dover, 24/7 armed police patrols will cease and the massive infrastructure of very high fences with rolls of razor wire, lights, cameras, will come down.

BTW They're not illegal if they apply for asylum, which they're entitled to do as soon as they enter British waters.

The UK wanted control of its borders. It's got it.

What can the navy do that Border Force can't? I don't think even the government intends to torpedo the dinghies.